Lower back pain and more specifically, relieving lower back pain is probably one of the biggest problems I see and certainly one of the biggest issues stopping people from doing all the stuff they really want to do as they get older.
Sedentary lifestyles and too much time spent sitting have wreaked havoc with the structure of our spines. So if you you suffer with pain in the lumbar region
This article is for you!
Now I’m not an osteopath or a physio. In my role as a Personal Trainer I often see people after they’ve been with these guys for a while. But when I’ve got my other hat on, as a Performance Coach and Nutritionalist. I try my best to ensure my clients never have to see these guys in the first place.
To do that we need to focus much more on what is going on inside the body.
Why?
A lot of lower back pain is aggravated by inflammation.
Let’s say you’ve got problems in your lower back, often initially caused by poor posture due to sitting too much. Whether this is muscular or skeletal, it causes the muscles to tighten up.
A lot.
This makes it harder for essential nutrients to get in and for waste products to be taken out of the muscles. This in turn makes the muscles less efficient at normal movement. It also means there just isn’t enough physical space for the muscles and organs anymore.
The end result…inflammation.
So if we can reduce this inflammation we can start to make it easier for the circulatory system and the lymphatic system to do their jobs. As well as relieving pressure on the organs and allowing the muscles to work properly again.
At best this can start a chain reaction which leads to a massive lessening of pain and a return of function. At the least it means when you do go to the Osteopath or Physio, it’s MUCH easier for them to actually get into the muscles and manipulate them…
Without giving themselves a hernia.
Meaning you get great results, much faster.
Now I’ve seen a lot of cases of lower back pain clear up just doing what I’m going to suggest next. When you combine these methods with with a good osteopath you often see stellar results.
So Where To Start?
Well some of these are so simple its silly:
- Water: Drink at least 2.5 litres of filtered water a day, preferably with good electrolytes
- Red light: These is a huge amount of research being done into the healing benefits of red light. For more information on this see my friends over at Red Light Rising
- Foam rolling: All over the body. It’s common to see lower back problems being more to do with the glutes and hamstrings (the most powerful muscles in the body) than with the back itself. So by getting rid of knots here you can make a huge difference to your lower back pain
- Systemic enzymes: These little guys are naturally produced by the body, unfortunately after the age of 25 our body really slows down production. Which is a shame as they play a great role in reducing inflammation, promoting recovery and breaking down scar tissue in the body. Which you’re likely to have a lot of around your lower back if it’s causing you pain.
- Collagen: this is more a restorative thing, but most of our diets are hugely lacking in Collagen, which is one of the bodies main building blocks for ligaments, and connective tissue.
- Omega 3, Turmeric, garlic, ginger are all great at reducing inflammation in general so include them as much as you can in your food.
- Another thing I found really helped me is a really innocuous device called a SHOFT, these things are so simple but I’ve found they really do help to correct my posture whilst driving. If you drive a lot it’s something I’d definitely consider.
Now this isn’t a complete list…
…and I go into this in much more depth in my latest book. It’s called “Post 40 Secrets” and you can grab your FREE copy here >>
Of course, all of this will do nothing…
If you’re going out and eating a load of junk and causing a load of systemic inflammation with your diet. So the basis of this is, of course, a low inflammatory diet. Eat foods with one ingredient..an egg is an egg.
Look at your latest TV meal from the supermarket and see how many ingredients there are and how many you’ve never heard of before. This is not food, (not for humans at least) and is making your pain worse.
Once you’ve done this for a month, you should start noticing your pain decreasing.
If you combine what I talk about above with deep tissue massage and manipulation from an expert you can really see things fly and suffer much less from aches and pains and crippling back pain.
Sam
??
